When I lived in Southern California, I become close friends with many wonderful people of Asian decent. Tradition and family go hand in hand in their culture.  Often, I would visit one of my Chinese friends and find their entire family sitting at the kitchen table on a Saturday afternoon making dumplings.  The Grandma, Auntie, Mom, Dad and brothers and sisters would all sit around for hours, talking while creating the perfect dumplings.  On days they knew I was coming, there was always an empty seat waiting for me.

Ingredients:

Potstickers


1/2 pound ground chicken
1/4 cup minced scallions
1/4 cup Napa Cabbage-minced into fine pieces
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg- beaten
1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce
30-40 wonton wrappers (refrigerated section of grocery store)
4 tablespoons Canola oil
water

Dipping Sauce

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce You can add more to your liking but beware, this is a very hot sauce.

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken, scallions, cabbage, black pepper, egg, ginger, garlic and soy sauce.  Mix until well incorporated.  I use my hands for the best results.

Add water to a small dish.  On a plate, place one wonton wrapper.  Dip your finger in the water and rub water around all the edges of the wonton wrapper.  Transfer the wrapper to the dumpling press. In the center of the wonton wrapper, place 1/2 tablespoon of the chicken mixture. Close the dumpling press.  Open and remove the finished potsticker.  Repeat until you have finished using all of the meat mixture.  If you do not have a dumpling press, Dip your finger in the water and rub around all the edges of the wonton wrapper.  Fill the wonton wrapper on the plate.   Fold the wonton in half and then rub your finger on the edges to seal the meat into the wonton wrapper.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the dumplings one by one. Turn the heat down to low and cover the pan for approximately 3 minutes.  Do not touch them.  After a couple of minutes, check the bottom of the potstickers.  Once they are golden brown, turn the potstickers and add 1/4 cup of water to the pan and return the lid.  Steam for approximately 10 minutes.  Once done remove from the pan and start the process again with the remaining potstickers.

To prepare the sauce, add the soy sauce, vinegar and Sriracha to a small dish and whisk until well incorporated.